Today is my travel day back to Virginia Beach. I had another great experience on the road with Mr. Cayce and hypnosis. The conference drew close to 100 people, and those in attendance were very much in attendance. We had a very in depth discussion about Forgiveness.

I like to start a discussion about forgiveness with the picture of Pope John Paul shaking hands with the man who shot him. It’s a powerful image. There’s not much of my Catholic upbringing left in me, but I admire the pope for that act of forgiveness. And while it was a public event, I think it was good that it was a public event. It brought forgiveness to the stage.

We oftentimes mistake forgiving for allowing. We think that by forgiving someone we are “pardoning” them and in some way rendering their acts as ok. We may feel that by forgiving, we allow people to stay in our lives.

Enter the pope. He went to the jail and forgave the man that shot him. They spoke together for some time. They took some pictures. Then the pope went back to the Vatican and the guy went back to jail. Back to jail. The act of the pope forgiving the man did not change the consequences of the man’s actions one bit. The pope didn’t seek a “pardon” for the man. He didn’t say, “I forgive you. Now go shoot some more people. Maybe take another shot at me?” Nope. None of that. I forgive you and I forget about it. In some ways, I forget about you. I may pray for you, but we won’t stay in touch. The pope didn’t offer him a job at the Vatican when he got out.

The pope forgave the man to let go of the traumatic event and move on with his life. The man has the option to accept the forgiveness or not. He can think about it. He may grow from it. But that is up to him. You see, that man was dangerous. He needed to have consequences for his actions. It was not good for him or for anyone to have him be free. He needed to be protected from himself.

People change, for the most part, because of consequences for their actions. If we have no consequences for our actions, then we don’t usually change. The law of karma is basically about changing through living in the fruits of our actions. If we are in an abusive relationship, and we make no changes, this harms both the victim and the abuser. It’s actually bad for both people. Abusing someone and having no consequences will not help a soul evolve. If we are being abused, we need to address that and make the abuser face a choice. Either they change, or they lose access to their victim. Just like the pope. What he did was good for him and for the man. The man has a chance now to face the consequences for his actions. He has a chance to change. If the pope had tried to set him free, it would have been bad for all and worst for the man himself.

We slowly need to enter the mind set that being in our life is a priviledge, not a right. People need to earn and keep the right to be in our lives. This applies to everyone. It does get more complicated with family, especially with our children. Those are particular soul contracts, but with adult family members, the rules apply. Just as we need to treat the people in our lives with love, safety and respect, so do the people in our lives.

Just like Pope John Paul. He forgave, let go, went home and slept well that night.